Asian markets ended in red on Friday in wake of mounted selling pressure following weak data from the US and China rekindled investor worries about a slowdown in the global economy. US President Donald Trump's insistence that border security justifies a state of emergency and skepticism over the latest round of US-China trade talks also kept investors nervous. Chinese shares ended lower after latest data raised deflation fears. Consumer prices in China were up 1.7 percent year on year in January, the National. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 1.9 percent, which would have been unchanged from the December reading. Factory inflation slowed for the seventh straight month on cooling demand. Producer prices were up 0.1 percent on year, shy of expectations for an increase of 0.5 percent and down from 0.9 percent in the previous month. Further, Japanese shares ended sharply down as a firm yen pulled down exporters, and falling US yields on the back of weak US data weighed on the financial sector.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,682.38 | -37.32 | -1.37 |
Hang Seng | 27,900.84 | -531.21 | -1.87 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,389.08 | -30.94 | -0.48 |
KLSE Composite | 1,688.83 | -0.23 | -0.01 |
Nikkei 225 | 20,900.63 | -239.08 | -1.13 |
Straits Times | 3,239.74 | -13.42 | -0.41 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,196.09 | -29.76 | -1.34 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,064.78 | -24.23 | -0.24 |
